Kylie Rancor
If you can’t overthrow the government, join it?
A New Hampshire man who is among those charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol earlier this year has announced his intent to run for Congress.
Jason Riddle has admitted to playing a role in the siege, and told NBC Boston that he has no regrets about what he did. He is currently facing charges that include knowingly entering a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and theft of government property.
While in the Capitol, he became known as the guy who chugged a glass of wine from a bottle found in the Office of the Senate Parliamentarian. He also told the FBI that he stole a book from the office and pawned it off on someone outside of the building after the fact.
But Riddle’s antics gave him attention that he says has encouraged him to seek out a higher office that he and his Capitol-storming buddies tried to overthrow just earlier this year.
Of course, he faces several challenges with this plan—not that any seem to be deterring him just yet.
First of all is the fact that he can’t actually go to Washington, D.C., while he awaits trial. Second is the part where he has only just realized that the office he wants to run for is Congress, suggesting a lack of unpreparedness one would expect from a Capitol rioter.
According to NBC Boston, Riddle was focused on unseating New Hampshire Democrat Annie Kuster in the midterms—but he thought she was a state representative until they informed him otherwise.
“Oh, well I guess I have to run for [Congress] then,” he said when he found out otherwise.
Despite only just finding out what office he plans to run for, Riddle believes that not only can he really make a difference, but that his time spent storming the Capitol with a mob threatening to violently overthrow the government as part of a temper tantrum because the guy they like didn’t win the presidency will actually work in his favor.
“It tells them I show up,” he said. “I’m going to actually keep my promises and make some changes.”
Most Americans don’t look at the people who live-streamed their own failed insurrection as promise keepers capable of enacting real change, but equally unqualified people have certainly found their way into higher office in the United States before.